Drama in France: A girl attacked a teacher with a knife

Drama in France: A girl attacked a teacher with a knife

The incident happened at a school in Rennes, and as reported, no one was injured.

Born in 2011, the schoolgirl "came to class armed with a large knife with the apparent intention of killing her English teacher," said Rennes prosecutor Rennes Philippe Astruc.

"During the lesson, in class, she brandished the knife at the victim who fled running," before she was disarmed by school staff members.

The suspect is the eldest of four children in a family of Mongolian origin, with residency in France and who arrived in Rennes in 2012.

The schoolgirl declared in front of her classmates that she was going to kill the teacher and "do like in Arras" but "no one took her seriously".

At a later press conference, he showed drawings of the kitchen knife, we he said was 17 centimetres (6.7 inches) long.

The prosecutor said the girl was currently undergoing psychiatric examinations in hospital "which will allow us to shed further light on this situation."

He said it appeared that the "psychological or even psychiatric aspect" seemed to him "dominant in the act of this minor".

There have been growing tensions in schools in France, which has large Muslim and Jewish communities, sometimes linked to the war between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.